Walk a mile in his boots
Walk a mile in his boots
EDITOR:
Who decided the Rules of Engagement? Someone sitting in an office who has time to think, or a Marine who saw his buddy killed by a booby trapped enemy (insurgent), or the day before is shot and sent back into battle.
I cannot condone shooting a supposedly wounded person; to kill someone in cold blood is wrong. But this is war and I think you have to be in his boots before you can condemn whether he should be tried for wrongdoing. This is an enemy who beheads people, kidnapped and killed a woman who had helped thousands of their own people, they kill and maim their own women and children.
Before this Marine is charged with any crime, I think every veterans group should sign a petition to protect our men and women over there. There is such a petition circulating on the web at PetitionOnline.com. I urge everyone who cares about our troops to search their souls and sign this or a petition of their own. Sometimes you have to stand up and be heard, not just sit at home and say bring our troops home. They will win and they will be home.
BOB COZZO
Poland
People see sales tax as fair, can't understand how it lost
EDITOR:
I am a deputy sheriff who until recently was assigned to the Juvenile Justice Center, working security at the main entrance, and in the public eye most of my shift. I am not writing this letter because I work for the county, but because this is what many residents of Mahoning County told me. (I have since been reassigned to jail duty because of manpower shortages),
Hardly a day went by after the election that I was not approached by people from the cities, suburbs and rural areas -- professionals, laborers and homemakers alike -- who expressed their disbelief that the 0.5 percent sales tax did not pass. They told me they feel it is the best way to generate additional revenues to help fund our counties needs. That it is a fair tax. Directly relating to each individual's ability to buy taxable goods and services. Those who have more spend more while those who have less spend less. When you are charged an additional $20 each year to renew your license plates to support county road maintenance, the person making minimum wage pays the same as an executive making six figures.
They say that a third of the tax money comes from nonresidents of Mahoning County through our shopping centers, restaurants, car dealerships, hotels and truck stops. That we are fortunate to have this retail and transit commerce and should take advantage of it.
They tell me that the most affluent areas of Mahoning County, who showed their support for the tax at the polls, contribute the most revenues: whereas those in the city and outlying areas, on tighter budgets, contribute the least while still benefiting from county services, not just the criminal justice system, but all services supported by the general fund. They are the hardest hit when these services can no longer be provided.
Hearing this from such a diverse cross section of the general public tells me that this is not a tax supported just by certain groups to fund special interests, but only that we have failed to explain the positive aspects of a sales tax system and its benefits to all Mahoning County residents. Those in the know need to share what they know. Hopefully the local radio and television stations and the local news publications, who enjoyed windfall profits from this years campaign advertisements, will rally behind this issue and help get this information out to the public.
BAREND VANDEN BOSCH
Boardman
Basic cable is basically getting dirtier and dirtier
EDITOR:
I am greatly alarmed by the programming on some of the so-called basic cable networks.
A new Special Report by the Parents Television Council shows just how licentious and depraved some of the programming on basic cable is. I urge you to read the report, which can be found at www.ParentsTV.org. The PTC's report shows that basic cable is rife with some of the most obscene themes and content imaginable, including pornography, masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, threesomes, statutory rape, incest, and bestiality. Why should I be forced to bring this sewage into my home in order to watch the Food Network, or the Disney channel? Why should parents have to subsidize channels that undermine their core values and beliefs?
I ask you to consider families like mine when you decide on cable choice. By offering me the ability to choose the channels I want, and to pay only for those channels, you put power back in the hands of the consumer and force the producers of indecent or violent programming to fund their own raunch. These raunchy cable networks have been carried on the backs of American consumers long enough. It is time for this extortion to end, and you have the power to stop it.
TERRI HUDSON
Columbiana
Goodbye to a good doctor, good listener, good man
EDITOR:
A tremendous force for good has passed from this world. Dr. Gene Fry was that Norman Rockwell family physician that some people could only imagine caring for them and their loved ones. The rest of us were born and raised under his tender mercies. He practiced family medicine in Girard before internal medicine was even thought of. Eternally calm, an excellent listener, with a good sense of humor, Dr. Fry embodied all the elements of the Hippocratic oath.
When I was working as a teenager at the then Northside Hospital, I was never surprised to see Dr. Fry dressed in sport coat and tie arrive in the X-ray Department in the wee hours of Sunday morning. After checking the latest studies done on his patients and asking the nursing staff how they had passed the night, he would take time to sit and chat with each patient. I once asked him why he was already "dressed up" so early in the morning. He just smiled and said, "So I'm not late for church."
He had a special gift for children facing the needle. As his nurse readied the injection, Dr. Fry would mesmerize his little patient by asking him or her to repeat this phrase:
Oskie-Wa-Wa, Skinny Wa-Wa
Since we children adored him, we readily responded with a chorus of "Oskie-Wa-Wa, Skinny-Wa-Wa" several times over. None of us really knew what an Oskie Wa-Wa looked like; fat or skinny. However, the shot was given with a lot less trauma for having said it. I must confess to having thought of this phrase during my adult life when facing and unpleasant event. I am sure of the hundreds of kids that Dr. Fry cared for I am not alone in this.
To you, dear Dr. Fry, a parting, "Oskie-Wa-Wa." If there are any "Skinny-Wa-Was" in heaven, I'm sure you'll bring them back to health in no time. Thank you for your life, your career as a healer, for the sacrifices your family made so that you could care for us. You will always been remembered.
CYNTHIA BECKES
Brookfield